Description: In the United States, there has been much industry discussion of the challenges associated with a sustained low interest rate environment, which impacts both the asset and liability sides of the balance sheet in unfavorable ways. The intent of this article is not to focus on these strategic issues. Rather, we attempt to shine a spotlight on some of the modeling challenges that practicing actuaries may experience when incorporating negative interest rates into their models.

Description: In this article the author presents a general solution to the problem of finding the effective annual interest rate commonly arising in finance for an installment loan.

Description: This paper shows the mortality element can be partially isolated allowing an exact annuity value to be readily obtained at any interest rate. From the Actuarial Research Clearing House 1979, Vol.2.

Description: Discussion on modeling Medicare Supplement insurance and the considerations when choosing an Actuarial Modeling Software (AMS). Focuses on model risk management, key modeling assumptions and inputs, and the complex interactions between modeling assumptions and why its critical to have a model that can handle that complexity. This article also touches on the incorporation the of accounting and regulatory regimes into the model, including Statutory, GAAP (Legacy and LDTI), and Tax regimes, and the modeling considerations for sensitivity testing and capital planning. Lastly, the article highlights the capabilities to look for when choosing an AMS for Medicare Supplement

Description: This article discusses the reliance the banking industry placed on sophisticated mathematical models.

Description: Cautions against putting too much faith in financial models - such as the IASB's proposal to accrue future expected profits on the day a policy is issued.

Description: This article is the first in a series of articles on insurance applicant mortality risk analytics. From Small Talk Newsletter, Issue 37, January 2012.

Description: A disscussion of actuar R, an R package for actuarial science, and its facilities in the fields of loss distribution modeling, risk theory and credibility theory.

Description: A brief introduction to a new SOA research on liability-driven investment benchmark model.

Description: Discusses the growing and evolving field of pricing and valuing stock option plans, and makes the case that actuaries are the professionals best qualified to serve clients in the field.